


shattered expectations and vanilla cookies

by ah_choo (lieagain)



Category: NATURE (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Cottagecore, F/F, I guess???, fairytale retelling, knight!yejin, princess!haru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29177208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieagain/pseuds/ah_choo
Summary: Knight Kang Yejin is set on a mission - to rescue the princess. But what she sees in the castle when she gets there is not what she expected.
Relationships: Kang Yejin | Loha/Abe Haruno | Haru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	shattered expectations and vanilla cookies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nelassy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nelassy/gifts).



> hi! this is my first nature fic (and also the first one in loharu tag!! what!!) so I'm a little nervous but I hope you'll like it!

Panting, Yejin takes two last steps and has to lean on the wall to calm down her breathing. When she starts feeling better, she takes off her helmet and gloves, holds them between her knees - one glove falls down to the floor - and tries to make herself look presentable. It’s not going well, hair sticking to her sweaty forehead, and she stops after a few tries. Well, hopefully, the princess won’t mind.

With a heart beating loudly, not from exhaustion but from nervousness this time, because this is it, this is  _ the  _ moment that no knight has ever reached before her, she goes up to the elegant, old door and knocks.

Nothing.

Is the princess sleeping? Or maybe… worse…?

Yejin hears her heartbeat in her ears, now more stressed than ever during her journey, because this is supposed to be  _ it _ , right? A grand finale, a happy ending. But what if it's… not? 

She knocks again, and after a minute or two of waiting she turns the knob, and when it turns out it's unlocked, she enters the chamber on her own.

It’s empty.

There’s no one on the bed with the pretty but faded pink sheets, there’s no one sitting by the desk, no one on the elegant armchair by the bookshelf. One half of Yejin is relieved because at least there’s no body and the princess is probably still alive but–

Where is she then?

Yejin goes further in to look around. Everything in the room is neat and clean, but there’s a rather thick layer of dust everywhere. It looks… abandoned.

Dead tired after everything that happened that day - starting with crossing the fosse full of crocodiles, then walking past the sleeping dragon to climb definitely too many flights of stairs to reach the chamber at the top of the castle tower - Yejin flops onto the bed with a cloud of dust rising in the air. She looks up at the canopy above her, hand-painted stars on the fabric making up some non-existent constellations.

Did someone else rescue the princess before her?, Yejin wonders. But if yes, it had to be a long time ago, and also why didn’t they bring her back to the king and queen, why didn’t they come for the prize? Did they… kidnap her? But there are no signs of the fight here. So what if… she escaped herself?

Yejin shakes her head. No, impossible. If she did, then where did she go if not home? Wait. Maybe she did escape on her own, and  _ then  _ someone kidnapped her?

With a heavy heart, she gets up. Glancing out of the small window, she notices a cluster of homes in the distance. Maybe there's a nice tavern where she could stay the night? With one last look at the chamber, she puts her gear back on and readies herself to pass the dragon and the crocodiles again. There's no need for her to stay there any longer.

***

Luckily, Yejin’s horse didn’t run away. This poor animal was too easily frightened, and definitely not a good companion for a knight, but she took care of him since he was a colt and simply loved him like nobody else.

“Did you miss me?” She asks, patting his long nose, and climbs up. Grabbing the reins, she navigates the animal in the direction of the village she saw from the tower. It is still early, the sun barely passing midday, but the knight is so, so tired. She traveled for weeks through very tough conditions, and everything she dreams of is a warm meal, a bed, and some water to wash the dirt and sweat off her body.

Before reaching the village, she stumbles upon a small cottage right at the feet of the castle hill. It looks adorable with colorful flowers blooming at the front, some herbs planted in the pots on the windowsills, and a few ducks with ribbons tied into bows - bows! - at their necks, each different color. There is a well by the side of the cottage, and Yejin can see the smoke going through the chimney.

Deciding that asking the resident of the cottage for some water for her and her horse won’t hurt anybody, she gets down and ties the reins to the old fence.

The ducks run away to the backyard when she walks over to the door and knocks loudly. 

"Coming, just give me a second!" A bright voice calls from the inside. Yejin takes off her helmet and tucks it under her arm. 

After a few seconds, the door opens, and the first thing that greets Yejin is the sweet scent of vanilla; the second is a person, a petite girl with two blonde braids over her shoulders. She's wearing a simple beige dress with a slightly dirtied apron over it, and there is still flour on her clothes and hands.

Yejin gasps, but not because of that; one look at that round face with big eyes and pink cheeks and she instantly knows who is this.

"Princess Haruno?" she asks, still shocked. The kind smile falls off the girl's face, replaced with wariness.

"Who are you and how do you know me?"

"You- you are very similar to your mother," Yejin says weakly. Shaking her head, she clears her throat. "I'm Kang Yejin, I'm a knight and was supposed to rescue you from the castle," she gestures vaguely to the hill behind her, "but- but you weren't there? And this is the first house on the way to the village, and- and i wanted to ask for some water, but- it's you? Here?"

Yejin blushes. She doesn't like it when she starts rambling. Fortunately, the princess looks like she understood what she meant.

"Oh," she says. "You managed to get into the castle? Did you kill the dragon?"

"No, it was sleeping. I snuck past it."

Princess Haruno nods slowly and seems like she's debating something in her head. After a few seconds, she nods.

"Okay. Do you want to come inside? You can take all that," she gestures to the armor, "off, and wash. And I will give some water to your companion over here, how is it?"

"Sure, thank you," Yejin answers. "Your highness," she adds immediately, correcting herself. The princess winces slightly.

"Just Haru, please."

"Oh, okay. Haru."

The girl smiles and opens the door wide to let Yejin in. She shows her the bowl in which she can wash her face and exits the little house to give her some privacy.

Taking the armor off takes some time, and Yejin looks around in between each part. It is pleasantly cluttered; dried herbs hanging under the low roof, a lot of jars full of jams and juices, some books in between the pots on the shelves. There is a tray full of cookies chilling on the table (the source of the appetizing vanilla smell), and a bowl covered with a checkered cloth, dough rising inside probably. 

When she's free from the metal of the armor, she washes her face and hair. There's a small towel by the bowl, and it's not enough to dry her hair completely, but at least it's something.

Haru enters when she hangs the towel by the furnace.

"What's your horse's name?" She asks.

"It's, uh, Sparkles," Yejin admits with slight embarrassment. "I named it when I was a child." However, the princess looks delighted.

"How cute! Anyway, you can sit by the table. I gave Sparkles some water and hay, and I will make you some tea if you want."

"Sure," Yejin agrees. The princess turns around to the furnace and prepares the kettle. "So… How are you here? Do I have to take you to the king?"

Haru visibly tenses for a second, then she finishes putting tea leaves into the mugs and turns around with a smile as if nothing happened.

"I'd rather not. Do you want a cookie? They're still hot, so I'd advise you to wait for a little bit more."

Yejin sees that the princess changes the topic, so she doesn't poke more.

"Sure. By the way, when did you learn how to bake?"

"When I was a child," she says. "I liked to sneak into the castle kitchen. The cook was nice to me, and she let me help with the sweets. That's how I learned. But- let's talk about you. I've never heard about a woman being a knight! I'm curious how you are one."

Yejin sighs. It's a usual question to her, so she says the exact same words each time she has to explain it.

"My father is a knight and he wanted a son to take after him. But our mother gave birth to five daughters, and father got older, so he decided he's going to make his oldest daughter a knight."

"Oh, interesting. Do you like it?" Haru asks with actual curiosity.

Yejin stops to think. No one's ever asked her about that. The usual reaction was "but no man will want you!" or "you're too weak to be a knight!". If people accepted it, it was because that was the decision of her father. No one ever thought about considering her feelings about it. It is… nice, she reckons.

"I… guess? I don't dislike it, and I'm quite good at wielding the sword." She shrugs. "I don't know what else I could do with my life, to be honest. And at least for now father doesn't plan on setting me up with a man to marry."

Haru nods in understanding.

"I would have to get married too, if I came back to my family," she muses.

"So that's why…" Yejin hesitantly starts. At that moment, the kettle is whistling and Haru gets up to finish their tea. When she sits up with both mugs, she has an unreadable expression on her face.

"Partially," she answers after a long time. "I- can I ask you for discretion? About all of this?"

"Of course!" Yejin nods fervently. At least this manages to get a smile from the princess. She really wants to know how the princess left the castle and she can see she's slowly opening up to her, so she decides to talk more about herself.

"The oldest of my sisters is about to marry, actually. The guy's older and, of course, our father chose him, but he seems alright. They met a few times and she said he's going to be a good friend."

"Oh, that's nice."

"Yeah. I was meant to get her a wedding gift with the money I get from rescuing you but…" The knight sighs. 

"Sorry about that. But you seem very confident? About, you know… being able to rescue me. I know that many men tried and failed."

Yejin chuckles lightly.

"You can say that."

It's not like she hasn't thought about the possibility of dying while going to the rescue of the princess. Those who have lived and came back were seriously injured, and those who didn't… well, she saw the burned armors scattered around when she came to the castle. She knew what she's going to meet, and she was ready to fight the dragon. It's sheer luck that she didn't have to. But going on a mission and expecting to fail? It wasn't an option.

"How was living in that castle, anyway? Weren't you afraid of the dragon? Oh, and isn't it a danger to you now?"

Haru shakes her head and takes a sip of tea before she answers.

"I grew used to it. And the witch cast protective spells on the tower and the village, since she lived there, so it wasn't physically able to hurt me."

The witch, of course. The one who kidnapped the princess when she was barely seven years old, apparently because of some old argument she had with the queen. 

"Well, until two years ago," she adds eventually. Yejin's ears almost literally perk up at that mention.

"Yeah?"

Haru sighs with a small smile tugging on the corners of her lips.

"Did anyone ever tell you you look like a puppy?"

Yejin blinks.

"What?"

"An excited puppy," she confirms. Yejin feels herself blushing for no reason. It's a pity that her hair is still wet and doesn't hide her face that well.

"Oh… Okay…?" She stutters. 

"Two years ago the witch died," the princess resumes her story. "For all those years I lived in the tower, she brought me food and books, yarn for crocheting and basically anything I needed or wanted. She also cast those protective spells. But then she stopped coming. I ran out of food and didn't know what happened to her… Then, one day, her daughter came to save me!"

"Her daughter?"

"Yes, Sohee's a witch too. She came for me and when we escaped, she said I'm free since her mother can't imprison me anymore."

"And you didn't want to go home?"

Haru shakes her head slowly, looking into the mug she's holding with both of her hands. Compared to her own, they're really small, Yejin notices.

"The older I was, the more I read… I realized I don't want to be a princess. Because I'm not the oldest child, and I won't become a queen. If I came home, I'd have to marry some wealthy man, and I'd have to live in another castle forever. And I always dreamt about living out of those walls. I saw the village through my window and wondered how's life there? So when Sohee brought me here, I decided to stay."

"And become a baker?"

"Yeah," she confirms with a laugh. Now, relaxed, she looks really soft and warm. She really fits here, Yejin thinks with a surprise. She can't picture her in an expensive, colorful dress with a tiara on her head; this is where she belongs. "I begged Sohee to let me stay with her, but she said if I want to start a new life, I should be independent. This house was abandoned for a few years, and with a help of her friend – he's as tall as a tree, I'm telling you, and probably the kindest person in the world, so I'm not surprised that Sohee had a crush on him for some time, but- wait, what was I talking about?"

"The house," Yejin says. She's leaning her head on her hand, looking at Haru rambling about her life, and she wonders, how can you have a crush on anyone else when you have Haru by your side? 

Oh.

Caught up in her thoughts, she misses a few words.

"...and we made it livable. It is a little bit distant from the village, but I don't mind. I sell my pastries at the market every other day. Which reminds me, you still haven't tried my cookies!" She picks up one and gives Yejin. "Tell me what you think."

Yejin bites on the cookie and closes her eyes. It's crispy but not hard, perfectly sandy texture, melting in her mouth, the taste of butter and vanilla mending perfectly on her tongue.

"It's… Wow, if that's what the king eats everyday, maybe I should also become one."

Haru giggles at her reaction, covering her mouth with her hand. Adorable.

"You can eat as many as you like, I don't mind."

"Don't you have to sell them?"

"I do, but." She shrugs. "I think you deserve them. For sneaking past the dragon twice. I don't think anyone has ever done that. Except for Sohee, but she has like, magic powers so I don't think that counts."

Encouraged by her words, Yejin eats way too many of them. They chat, Haru giving her the gossip about the residents of the village who are apparently the best people in the world, and Yejin telling the stories from the capitol, about the royal family and the politics.

The sun starts setting down when Haru stands up with a gasp, realizing she forgot to bake the bread rolls, and Yejin remembering she should actually eat something more nutritious than sweets.

"I should get going," she announces. "Is there a tavern in the village?"

"Yes, a small one but it's not bad. Are you going home immediately?"

Yejin nods.

"If they have a room available, I'm gonna spend my night there and depart in the morning."

"What are you planning on telling my family?"

"What do you want me to tell them?"

Haru sighs, and answers after a few seconds.

"I thought about that for a long time, and I think it would be better if they thought I'm dead."

"Really?"

"Yes. I mean, I'm second in the line for the crown, and they haven't seen me in more than ten years. They don't know me, and I don't know them. You can tell them the truth; that the old witch died, and that I was neglected and died of hunger. Let them mourn me; princess Haruno died years ago, anyway." 

Yejin feels at a loss for words. This girl is standing there in her plain dress and a dirty apron, flour on her hands, but the determination and self confidence she emits are truly royal-like. 

"I will do it," she says with a small bow of her head. 

Haru helps her with putting the armor back on - _when_ _people see it they feel respect_ , Yejin explains - and goes out to say goodbye to her.

"I'm glad you came by," Haru says, the sun setting behind her shining through her hair, making it look like a halo. "Will you come by tomorrow, before you leave?"

"I will. And I will come back whenever I can if you want me to."

"Yes, I'd love you to visit one day."

Before she loses her spirit, Yejin takes Haru's hand and brings it up to her mouth to give it a kiss. The faint blush that appeared earlier on the girl's face deepens immediately, and Yejin's heart makes a somersault in response.

"It was nice meeting you, Haru."

She gets on her horse and with a short wave, she sets to the heart of the village.

"See you tomorrow!" Haru calls after her. She looks over her shoulder and gives the girl a wave and a smile.

This castle and the village might be at the outskirts of the kingdom, but nothing will stop Yejin from visiting this place as often as possible now.

**Author's Note:**

> my [twitter](https://twitter.com/yiwoozi)


End file.
